AT one point in the insipid, kiddie-friendly “Daddy Day Care,” Eddie Murphy emits a version of his signature chortle that is so muted as to be almost negligible.

Perhaps cowed by the scathing response to his recent trifecta of duds – “Showtime,” “The Adventures of Pluto Nash” and “I Spy” – Murphy seems reluctant to raise his head above the parapet during this formulaic alloy of “Kindergarten Cop” and “Mr. Mom.”

It’s probably a wise move: While Murphy has had more success with his family films (“Shrek,” “Dr. Dolittle”), this innocuous, only occasionally funny comedy certainly doesn’t have the spark to reignite his soggy career.

And only really little tykes will find the surplus of pratfalls and poo and fart jokes a hoot.

Murphy plays ad exec Charlie Hinton who, along with his pal Phil (Jeff Garlin of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm”), loses his job after failing to turn the public on to a veggie-flavored breakfast cereal.

Charlie’s wife, Kim (Regina King), commandeers the Mercedes and sets off to work as an entry-level lawyer, but the Hintons soon realize they can’t afford the sky-high tuition to keep their shy 4-year-old son Ben (an adorable Khamani Griffin) at the fancy Chapman Academy, run by the aptly named Miss Harridan (Anjelica Huston playing a dominatrix caricature).

A lightbulb dings when a pal muses that anyone who opened an alternative day care facility would make a killing, and soon Charlie and Phil are, as a former colleague sneers, “wiping boogers for a living” as the proprietors of Daddy Day Care.

The roiling cast of preternaturally cute kids naturally turn Charlie’s home into a disaster zone, and much of the film consists of a series of lazily strung-together episodes in which Charlie and Phil have to deal with the individual “issues” of their charges: separation anxiety, food allergies, a child who refuses to take off his Flash superhero costume and another who speaks only in Klingon.

The weakness of Geoff Rodkey’s screenplay and Steve Carr’s direction is highlighted by the central set piece (promoted endlessly in the trailers), in which Charlie happens upon the result of a bathroom visit by Phil’s son, who is not potty-trained.

A horrified Murphy is required to mug endlessly, stringing out an already tired joke way past its use-by date.

Charlie and Phil acquire a sidekick in the form of a geeky Trekkie named Marvin (the always watchable Steve Zahn), whose inner child connects with the kids and to whom some of the best lines fall: He explains his affinity with the tots thus, “I read Dr. Spock’s book on child care. It wasn’t about ‘Star Trek!’ “

A modicum of drama is tossed into the equation via the underhanded sabotage tactics of Miss Harridan, who is losing her charges to the suddenly popular Daddy Day Care, and a few visits from a Child Services inspector (Jonathan Katz) who is just plain weird.

Zahn and Garlin are adept at physical comedy, and Murphy’s interactions with the kids have a genuine warmth, but even the relentlessly feel-good soundtrack can’t pump much energy into a movie that looks as if it’s been dosed up with Ritalin.